Unless otherwise stated, all images, content and recipes are original and are the sole property of Mary Foreman, DeepSouthDish.com. No photographs or other content may be used without prior written consent.

Privacy Disclosure

Any personal information you provide (e.g., name, email address, etc) will never be released to any entities outside Deep South Dish. As with most websites and blogs across the Internet, third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to websites.

Affiliate Disclaimer

Deep South Dish is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products at amazon.com. Your support is greatly appreciated - Thank You!

Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Monday, May 9, 2011

A well loved casserole of ground beef, and I like to also add smoked sausage, seasoned with sweet onion and bell pepper and a cream soup sauce and topped with crispy, crunchy tater tot potatoes and cheese.

Tater Tot Casserole

Tater tots. Little pillows of deep fried shredded potatoes. I mean, c'mon... how can you not love those little bite sized crunchy bites of goodness? On the rare occasion that we eat Sonic, I guarantee I'm gettin' the tater tots y'all!

Did you know that tater tots were born out of trying to "use it up?" They sure were. Those folks at Ore-Ida were looking for a way to use up the leftover slivers of potatoes and came up with the tater tot. You'd almost think those Griggs brothers were southerners! Around since the early 50s, we consume about 70 million pounds of tater tots a year.

Ah yes... and let us not forget the fabulous famous Tater Tot Casserole! Sometimes called Cowboy Casseroles, it's a recipe I'm pretty sure every southerner has in their recipe box. The basic tater tot casserole is very simple, including cream of something soup, cheese, milk or sometimes sour cream, seasoned simply with a bit of salt and pepper, and is usually served as a side dish. Somebody along the way thought to add meat to make it a more substantial main dish, usually ground beef or turkey. Some folks layer the ground beef in the bottom of the casserole raw, but I prefer to pre-cook mine and drain off the fat.

Well, y'all know I can never leave well enough alone, right?

Just one thing to note here with this casserole. A lot of people mix all of the ingredients together, others put the tater tots on the bottom and pour the mixture on top of them. Well, in my little ole humble opinion, you want those tater tots to be crispy on top, really you do! This ain't hash brown casserole y'all, although that is an excellent variation.

I put the meat mixture on the bottom, top that with a little bit of cheese, pour the soup mixture over that and arrange the tater tots on top. Bake that uncovered and in the last five minutes, sprinkle just a bit of cheese on top and return to the oven to melt the cheese. I've also included some of the many variations this casserole has gone through over the years, just in case you may want to try something a little different.

Perfect for toting to a potluck, but I wrote this in a smaller version here for a 9 x 9 inch baking dish, so you'll want to double it for that.

For more of my favorite casseroles and bakes, visit my page on Pinterest!

If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray a 9 x 9 inch casserole dish with non-stick spray; set aside. Whisk together the cream soup and milk until well blended; set aside.

Add olive oil to a large skillet and saute the onion and bell pepper until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ground beef and brown; drain if needed and return to the skillet. Add the minced garlic, cook and stir another minute. Add in the chopped smoked sausage and cook about 3 minutes. Stir in the basil, thyme, Cajun seasoning; taste and add salt and pepper only as needed. Transfer meat mixture to the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese. Evenly pour the soup mixture over the top. Arrange the tater tots on top and bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until potatoes are nicely browned and crisp. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheese on top and return to the oven just until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately with a green vegetable or a mixed garden salad. Double for a 9 x 13 inch casserole.

Cook's Notes: I used Savoie's 7-links spicy hot smoked sausage this time, so I eliminated the Cajun seasoning but added in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder. Okay to use lower fat products. Substitute cooked and crumbled bacon for the sausage.

Bacon Ranch Tater Tot Casserole: Prepare as for classic casserole, stirring in one packet of dry ranch dressing mix in with the soup mixture and adding in 4 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon. Assemble and bake as above.

Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole: Prepare as for classic casserole, except substitute condensed cheddar cheese soup for the cream soup and mix with one cup of sour cream, omit sausage and adding in 4 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon. Assemble and bake as above.
.Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole: Prepare as for classic casserole except substitute one can of sloppy joe sauce (like Manwich) for the cream soup and water or beef broth for the milk. Assemble and bake as above.

Beef and Sausage Hash Brown Casserole: Substitute a small bag of frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed, layering half of them in the bottom of the casserole dish. Prepare meat mixture as above and pour over the top, adding the remaining hash browns to the top of the casserole. Bake as above.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

52 comments:

I'm sure this will be a favorite with my grandkids -- well, actually ALL of us. All my favorite ingredients.

By the way, we had John's Pot Roast for Mother's Day dinner tonight. It was a HUGE hit. Everyone agreed it was the best roast EVER and that the "gravy" was delicious on both the potatoes and the meat. I can't wait to try this also as a stew. A new family favorite. Thanks!!!!

We are contributors to those who eat tater tots although not as much lately. The casserole sounds delicious. Joanne over at Eats Well With Others mentioned them for use as the potato crust in a quiche, which I plan to try soon.

I haven't made this for ages Mary, but it almost always turns up at our church potluck dinners. Then I eat my fill. The addition of sausage sounds yummy, and the tots must be on top. Gotta have it crunchy!

This casserole sounds great. Our less amazing version is known at my house as "Student Casserole," since it can be made with three cheap ingredients -- tots, soup, and hamburger. Water, thank heaven, is still free.

OMG! I am from Louisiana. I lost my mom when I was a teenager. I live in Florida, so I can no longer taste my grandma's cajun food. Just looking at your food reminds me of my childhood. I always thought it would be difficult to cook my moms potatoes and sausage, until I found it on your blog. When I cooked your recipe, the sweet taste of the onion and potatoes together brought my mom's memory back to me. Thank you for that. I can't wait to cook every recipe on your blog. Just like mom and grandma used to make. Cajun French for life! C'est bon! P.S. hint hint...Dying for that cookbook. :)

I love your blog and have found many new recipes that I have tried and love. I am a cookbook fanatic and would love to have this cookbook. I used to make tater tot casserole, when my daughter was home and am going to try it again on my grandkids. I used to put a can of mixed vegetables in it too.

I made a tater tot casserole a while back after stumbling upon it in a cookbook. Being from southern CALIFORNIA and not necessarily the SOUTH, everyone thought I was out of my mind! But they all ended up loving it. You have inspired me to make it again and mix it up.

That's usually the reaction to some of our southern dishes Kristin, but then once people get a taste of them, they get it. It's mostly in the mindset I think & since I tend to push the envelope a bit, I go through it with my own husband!

I love the Tator Tot Casserole, but am anxious to try this with the meat added to it. I, too, am a Mississippi girl transplanted in NC now. My sister shared this site with me, and I'm so glad she did. (P.S. Would LOVE to win a cookbook).

I've made this dish for years...My girls have used it to 'convince' their boyfriends that they could cook. They couldn't..they called me...lol

Our versions are so spot on that I do believe we are sisters from another mother! I have always made it as a main dish and served either a green veg with it or a nice tossed salad. Gotta watch those starches ;-)

I always make this when we're low on food in the house (which isn't often) because I'm not a huge hamburger fan but my fiance LOVES it!! I never thought about adding chopped sausage though, I'll have to try that next time :)

I came home from work tonight as was so hungry for Tater Tot casserole as I had some in the freezer. A Google search led me to your recipe. I made it substituting regular onions and red peppers as this is all I had in the house and also added green beans. It turned out delicious. Hubby and I ate it all. I would make this again.

Excellent! I must confess that I changed the recipe just a little. I used Italian sausage instead of smoked sausage. If I were back home in Louisiana I'd have followed the recipe precisely. However there aren't any good smoked sausages to choose from up here in the St. Louis area, unless you consider Hillshire Farms smoked sausage good. haha Great job! We'll certainly be having this meal again.

I just want to let you know that I made this last night and it was awesome. My husband actually went back for thirds.

I was out of garlic so I had to omit that and I also didn't have any smoked sausage on hand. However, it was still out of this world good and I know we'll be making it again. Thank you so much for the recipe (actually all your recipes -- I've been seriously devouring your site lately!). Will be pinning this one to my board on Pinterest.

I'm from "up North" (MN to be exact) and Tater Tot Hotdish is a standard up there! We add frozen mixed vegetables with the meat and soup, then the tater tots on top. Any potluck, funeral, etc that you go to up there you can be assured there will be Tater Tot Hotdish! Always reminds me of my Grandma! Thanks for sharing!

Mary, This looks wonderful. My wife loves casseroles and I love different twists on food. I just have to get her past the sausage thing. I can’t do the hot ‘n spicy sausage. I’m Irish. My palate will go ‘flambé’ in a heartbeat. You turned me on to Conecuh Sausage a while back. I absolutely love its flavor, texture and quality. It’s some of the best sausage I’ve had since leaving NY. I like it when I cut open a sausage and I can recognize the ingredients; and it’s not all ‘pink slime’ or mush, and tastes like a salty hot dog. I wish I could find Savoie's. It sounds pretty good. Mary’s idea of sausage is Johnsonville and Hillshire Farms. Oh Lord forgive her, for she knows not what she does.Thanks for the recipe. God bless.

Hey Diane! You can use any kind of smoked sausage you l like with this. We lean more toward a spicy one or some kind of andouille most times, but a basic smoked sausage will work. I used Savoie's 7-links spicy hot smoked sausage when I wrote this, so I eliminated the Cajun seasoning but added in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.

Unfortunately, I haven't written one yet, though I personally love them. My silly husband only wants the meat and none of the veggies though, so I'll have to double or triple the meat portion. I'm sure I'll get to it one day though!

I've had this casserole before but not with the sausage added. We ate this tonight with the addition of the sausage and it just put it over the top! I doubled for a 9x13 and it was perfect. I love the Slap Ya Momma seasonings in it too with the bell pepper, it was delicious! We can't wait to make this one again soon. This will especially be a good dinner for us once this school year gets rolling again! Thank you for another fabulous dinner!!!

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I love hearing from readers and I read every single comment and try to respond to them right here on the site, so stop back by!

From time to time, anonymous restrictions and/or comment moderation may be activated due to comment spam. I also reserve the right to edit, delete or otherwise exercise total editorial discretion over any comments left on this blog. If your comment serves only to be snarky, mean-spirited or argumentative, it will be deleted. Please mind your manners.

Hey Y’all! Welcome to some good ole, down home southern cooking. Pull up a chair, grab some iced tea, and 'sit a bit' as we say down south. If this is your first time visiting Deep South Dish, you can sign up for FREE updates via EMAIL or RSS feed, or you can catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter too!

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. ~Julia Child

The classic southern plate for supper is made up of meat and three, cornbread or rolls & a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian

Quantcast

Material Disclosure: This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program,
an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from the provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

DISCLAIMER: This is a recipe site intended for entertainment. By using this site and these recipes you agree that you do so at your own risk, that you are completely responsible for any liability associated with the use of any recipes obtained from this site, and that you fully and completely release Mary Foreman and Deep South Dish LLC and all parties associated with either entity, from any liability whatsoever from your use of this site and these recipes.

ALL CONTENT PROTECTED UNDER THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT. CONTENT THEFT, EITHER PRINT OR ELECTRONIC, IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. Recipes may be printed ONLY for personal use and may not be transmitted, distributed, reposted, or published elsewhere, in print or by any electronic means. Seek explicit permission before using any content on this site, including partial excerpts, all of which require attribution linking back to specific posts on this site. I have, and will continue to act, on all violations.